FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TROUT - PAGE 2

Anglers could stand toe-to-toe with any postal delivery workers. Rain, snow, sleet and hail — we had three of those four conditions this past weekend, plus high winds — do not deter seasoned anglers from casting lines, especially on opening day weekend. Despite lousy weather most of the weekend — except for about the first four hours Saturday morning — anglers hit area waterways in droves while looking to net trout. Except for a few dedicated members of the Lehigh River Stocking Association.

Saturday marks the first-ever Mentored Youth Trout Day and Contest in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 12 selected waters around the state. The idea for a mentored youth trout fishing day is simple enough, piggybacking off the popular mentored youth hunting days run by the Pennsylvania Game Commission to get youth more actively involved in the sport. Unlike the game commission's mentored youth hunts, however, the Pennsyvlania Fish and Boat Commission's mentored youth trout day isn't just for kids.

Stan Plevyak, right, Upper Bucks waterwaste conservation officer, unloads a bucketful of fish at a waterfall in Lenape Park, Sellersville. The state Fish Commission began its annual trout stocking along the East Branch of the Perkiomen Creek with 2,200 trout of various species, including the palomino trout below resting in a net before its release.

Susan Wagner and Rich Marsteller of Freemansburg and their pit bull, Kita Mae, peer at trout in the Monocacy Creek at Bethlehem's historical industrial area. The trout fishing season opens Saturday in Pennsylvania. Willow trees are beginning to bloom in the background.

Marvin Helfrich of Mahoning Township, a volunteer with the state Fish and Boat Commission, stocks trout in the Pohopoco Creek in Franklin Township. The commission put 90,0000 rainbow and brook fingerling trout between 4 and 5 inches long in the creek on Thursday.